Kitty''s water playing.... HELP!

[zhuzhu]

HELP!! MY cute kitty of 11 month old has caught on a new "game" of splashing water all over! Se thinks it is the funnest thing to put her paw paw in and splash it all over the floor, the dry food dish, the wet food dish, and to make a puddle of water in the kitchen!

I am going CRAZY! we tried spraying her when she does it, but that seems to excite her even more! We need to leave the cats for 3 days alone in the house over the holidays, and will hate to see all the drinking water gone from this game!

Advice from cat whispers welcome!

THANK YOU!

 

[kenny]

Is this her?

 

[zhuzhu]

Date: 11/12/2009 12:44:42 AM
Author: kenny
Is this her?

No, that is her cousin.
This is her....

 

[LGK]

One of my guys have been doing that a LOT too all of a sudden, after we moved recently. He adores nothing better than to tip over a waterglass or his drinking water. He smashed my favorite hand blown tumbler the other day- just whacked the crap out of it and hockey pucked it three feet across the counter to shatter on the floor. (Boy was he pleased with that one, it got a BIG human reaction!)

We haven''t been having much luck stopping him. We just use a lot of paper towels. So I have absolutely no useful advice but my kitchen is pretty damp too

and I sympathize!

OK I guess I have one suggestion. When you''re gone, get them a water circulator thing. My sister uses one- it''s sort of like a small size water cooler for cats that refills itself. I doubt she could splash ALL of that out.

My guys have discovered the joy of drinking out of the toilet, since they usually lose their water overnight to Rat making puddles. So they troop off to the bathroom and drink out the toilet instead

 

[MishB]

It''s a little water on the floor, I don''t see what the problem is.

However, I personally think 3 days is far too long to leave pets alone at home.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 11/12/2009 12:31:14 AM
Author:zhuzhu
HELP!! MY cute kitty of 11 month old has caught on a new 'game' of splashing water all over! Se thinks it is the funnest thing to put her paw paw in and splash it all over the floor, the dry food dish, the wet food dish, and to make a puddle of water in the kitchen!

I am going CRAZY! we tried spraying her when she does it, but that seems to excite her even more! We need to leave the cats for 3 days alone in the house over the holidays, and will hate to see all the drinking water gone from this game!

Advice from cat whispers welcome!

THANK YOU!

LOL! I had one like this, even a glass of soda wasn't safe! Like your cat he was young and he grew out of it.

I agree with Mish and also think 3 days is too long to leave your cats unsupervised, do you have a friend or neighbour who can check on them daily?

 

[MustangGal]

We have one of the water cooler type things, and the youngest cat like to splash the water out to watch the bubbles go up

, so that might not help eaither.

And IMHO, 3 days is fine to leave cats, as long as they have enough food and water. We''ve left ours for up to 4 nights, and the few times we''ve been gone longer than that we had someone check on them once.

 

[isaku5]

Our 10 year old kitty has an odd ''water habit'' too. He dips his right paw in his water and then licks the water off

. I asked our vet how we could stop that and his reply was to give him a teacup

.

Re leaving kitties alone for three days, I wouldn''t recommend it either. You never know what kind of ''problem'' might arise. If you have to do that, I understand, but I would suggest having someone come in to check on them daily.

 

[charbie]

Date: 11/12/2009 1:34:51 AM
Author: LittleGreyKitten

My guys have discovered the joy of drinking out of the toilet, since they usually lose their water overnight to Rat making puddles. So they troop off to the bathroom and drink out the toilet instead

my cat LOVED drinking out of the toilet. i think it was something about the coolness of the water. i didn''t see much of a problem with it actually- she never got sick or anything, and even if she had a fresh bowl of water, to the toilet she would go.

my dog does the same thing. even if he has fresh water, i''ll find him drinking from the toilet. honestly, i don''t mind it, as long as he doesn''t dribble

 

[ms.halo]

One of my kitties does this too. Before our "fix" he used to also drag the bowl around the kitchen with his paw and let the water slosh everywhere.

Now for our fix: I purchased a plastic outdoor food tray (something like what you would use for a breakfast in bed) that has raised sides. I got mine at Bed Bath & Beyond during the summer. Now the bowl can''t be dragged around the room and when our cat splashes water it ends up on the plastic tray only.

Good luck!

 

[lilyfoot]

(1) Cutecutecute kitty!

(2) Can you get one of those water bottles, like the ones you put on a rodent/gerbils cage? They hang upside down and have a metal ball at the tip? We''ve got one of those hanging on our dog crate for when they''re inside of it. Maybe you could figure out a way to attach it to the wall/kitchen cabinet/wherever?

 

[HollyS]

Oh, if I could just break my cat from washing her paws in her water bowl . . . I would be so happy. i''ve got litter floating at all times in water she should be drinking. I''ve got clay paw prints all over the tile floor because she does this. And of course the drippy mess, ''cause a cat will always flip their paws in the air when they''re wet, even if they themselves did the dunking.

If I knew how to cure this, I would tell you. I''ve given up. I know how to keep her off furniture, out of the blinds, off the counters, and ''doing her business'' in the box, but I can''t fix this problem. I contained the problem by buying a house with a bigger laundry room where I exiled all things kitty - - except kitty herself. We put up with it, ''cause she''s cute.

 

[Haven]

We distract our cats from bad behavior with other toys, and it''s worked pretty well in the past. We got the idea from our dog training experience, and while it''s much easier to train a dog, the cats seem to break habits with a lot of persistence over a good amount of time.

This is what we''d do:
Every time kitty starts playing in the water distract her with a loud noise to get her attention, and then introduce another game or toy for her to focus on. Do this *every* time she''s playing with the water.

We used this method to get our cats to stop jumping on the dining room table. DH has trained them to eat in a certain spot out of a certain bowl, as well. It takes more persistence than with a dog, but it works.

GORGEOUS kitty!

 

[zhuzhu]

I will try my best using all your wonderful suggestions!

Re leaving them home alone for 3 days/2 nights: We have done it before and it worked fine - but it was BEFORE Nina got her fascination with water. We will have to solve this problem before we take off this time. Even if we get a cat-sitter, it would be mean to have that person clean up the wet floor in addition to food-feeding!

 

[Scorpioanne]

Oh my, she''s beautiful! And she looks so innocent, who knew?

 

[mtjoya]

So KUTE!!!! PICS PLEASE!!!!

( I meant while kitty is in action!)

 

[HVVS]

Date: 11/12/2009 12:44:42 AM
Author: kenny
Is this her?

I feel sorry for that cat every time I see it. The cat just wants a drink, and has found a way to achieve that, while the thoughtless and disrespectful owners could just as easily reduce the flow to a trickle as make a video of the cat.

(but not at you, Kenny) It's not terribly difficult for a cat to get pneumonia from inhaling water.

I have this Petmate water fountain, in Large, for three adult cats. http://www.petmate.com/Products/Deluxe-Fresh-Flow-Pet-Fountain__24850.aspx They can't spill it, they can't pry the reservoir off it, and if you fill both the bowl and the reservoir, there's quite a bit of water there. If you have the floor space, you could go get a big metal drip pan from the auto parts store for $13 or so last time I checked prices. It's the pan they sell to put under a vehicle to catch oil drops. It's like 26" x 36" or something with a lip around the edge. Put towels in it, put the fountain in it, and that should contain any slopped water b/c it's a big drip pan. edit: Here it is http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3506279&CAWELAID=323881588 http://www.blitzusa.com/products/oil/Oil%20Drains%20and%20Pans/podpgdt.htm

DO NOT buy the Drinkwell Original fountain for a water-player. That fountain holds little, the reservoir costs extra, and the cats can easily pry that reservoir bottle off and roll it around the floor to spill everywhere. Someone told me that the Drinkwell Platinum reservoir doesn't have the same prob, but I've never seen one on person.